


To Speak True

by XaviaAndromedovna



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), Were the World Mine (2008)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Aromantic, Biphobia, Case Fic, Coming Out, Consent Issues, Crossover, Domestic Disputes, F/F, F/M, Heteronormativity, High School Student Derek, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Queerphobia, Kinda, Love Potion/Spell, Love Triangles, M/M, Midsummer Night's Dream, Other, Out of Character, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shakespeare Quotations, Shakespearean Language, So much fucking Shakespeare, Suicide Attempt, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Warning: Kate Argent, Werewolves, amatonormativity, mentions of Isaac's dad, more like a daisy chain, mostly crack with a healthy dose of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 15:51:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17247047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XaviaAndromedovna/pseuds/XaviaAndromedovna
Summary: "The next thing then she, waking, looks upon [...] she shall pursue it with the soul of love."Or, yet another cautionary tale about love potions.





	1. Pierc'd Through the Heart with Your Stern Cruelty

**Author's Note:**

> Oh gods, it's becoming a tradition for me to frantically complete a fic on New Year's Eve. In honour of the tenth anniversary of _Were the World Mine_ , here, have a way too long crossover fic. It's an AU but it's roughly parallel to season 3A. Unbetaed, I don't own the movie or the show, thankfully Shakespeare is public domain. I apologize to the English language. See end notes for content warnings and locations.

In retrospect, they totally should have seen this coming. Well, okay, no one can really predict this level of havoc being wreaked—wrought?—but at the very least they should have known that Greenberg would complicate things at some point. Because he most definitely has. This is complicated as hell. Stiles manages to catch up to him right as Derek tackles the guy. Of course, reaching for Greenberg’s squirty flower thing just makes him wield it like a weapon out of a frantic attempt to defend his face. Stiles can’t see what happens in the next few moments as he desperately scrambles to the water fountain in a vain attempt to rinse the potion out of his eyes, but by the time he has dried off and looked up, Derek has confiscated the flower and wrapped it in his t-shirt.

His t-shirt, which is no longer on his chest. As in, a shirtless Derek is standing there five feet in front of him, glistening in all his abtastic glory. And he’s staring at Stiles, liquid dripping down his cheeks.

They didn’t stand a chance.

~~~

_Two Days Earlier_

Stiles’s philosophy has always been to ignore problems until they go away. It doesn’t work often, but it helps him sleep at night. And since he’s got a pretty big problem to ignore right now, he takes the time to reminisce about how they got to this point.

“They” of course being him and Scott. It’s always been him and Scott, and always will be if Stiles has any say in it. Sure, people have always _implied_ that they were closer than most best friends, but they’ve never— aaaand we’re ignoring.

Scott’s arrival in second grade was one of the best things that’s ever happened to Stiles. He was more or less able to make friends, but no one seemed to get him on the same level that Scott got him. Scott was there when Stiles was diagnosed with ADHD. Stiles was there for him when Scott was diagnosed with asthma. Stiles held Scott while he cried when his father left. It was Scott’s turn to hold a sobbing Stiles when his mom died. They’ve been by each other’s side for almost a decade, and no matter what they faced— girls, bullies, lacrosse, werewolves— they always had each other.

_“I’ll always want you in my life,” Scott had whispered, embrace a little too long. “Always.”_

Damn it. Stiles has a white bear problem the size of California right now; no matter how much he tries not to think about it, the weirdness of this afternoon is firmly planted in his conscience. Scott is hopelessly in love with Allison. Hell, as far as Stiles knew, Scott is also 100% straight. And even if he isn’t, he has to know Stiles is. Right?

_“But I need to keep you safe, Stiles. I love you too much to lose you.” Scott planted a tender kiss on his lips, barely there but enough to get the point across._

It’s not about Scott kissing him, per se. Well, it’s kinda that, because Stiles isn’t gay, okay? Sure he jokes about being into guys sometimes, but only because everyone knows he’s clearly kidding. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course; if Scott really is gay it won’t change anything, but…

But what?

There’s something Stiles is missing. It’s not just Scott that’s been acting out of character. He’s run across several surprise pairings today that really did not need to happen ever. And they seemed _very_ into each other, like the world was ending in the next five seconds and they needed to fit a lifetime of saliva into that small window. Usually, he’d just write it off as high school drama, but something in his gut screams that this is supernatural in origin. And whenever he has a question about the supernatural, he gets in his Jeep and goes to his favorite expert, if only to annoy him.

Why Derek and Cora kept the cramped two-bedroom apartment Peter settled them into two years ago, Stiles couldn’t guess. After all, Gerard and Peter took each other out in that living room after plotting to kill Laura and then turning on each other. The carpet still has a prominent bloodstain under the garage-sale coffee table. Everyone knows they can afford a better space, but if anyone has a martyr complex since the fire, it’s Derek. He’s only a senior in high school and already he looks thirty in the eyes.

Stiles ambles up to the door, knowing they’ll let him in before he can bother knocking. Derek glares at him, but it’s one of his friendly glares, so he’s only mildly inconvenienced. “What, Stiles.”

“Hello, Derek, how are you?” Stiles brushes past him and flops on the couch next to Cora, who snorts without looking up from her phone.

“You know you don’t live here, right?”

“Oh please, if you really didn’t want me here there’d be claw marks through my clothes right now.”

Cora chimes in with a muttered “kinky…” Derek has the courtesy to look embarrassed.

“Do you have a reason to be here or did you get bored with pestering Scott?”

Right, Scott. “Actually, uh, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Did you notice anything weird at school today?”

“You mean besides you?”

“Oh my god,” Stiles huffs out, rolling his eyes and settling on Cora. “How about you? Notice anything weird?”

“Obviously you did, or you wouldn’t be asking. Wanna give us a hint?”

“You know, people acting strange, unexpected occurrences,” people suddenly being in love with someone they never had feelings for before without explanation.

The Hales are quiet in thought for a moment before Derek speaks up. “Isaac was a little testy when he got home. Did something happen?”

Interesting. “Well I don’t know about that, but was your day extra full of PDA, perhaps?”

The twin look they give him is hilarious but he refrains from laughing in case they decide to eat him. “Now that you mention it,” Cora answers finally, “Kyle and Ashley were particularly gross today in French class.”

Derek has a mildly interested look on his face. “I saw Danny making out with some guy in the middle of the hallway, but what else is new.” A crash issues from Isaac’s room, drawing the wolves’ attention. “Isaac, you okay in there?”

Usually when Isaac has a bad day, he stays holed up in his room, so it’s a good indication that Stiles is on the right track when he comes out seething. “Just so you know,” Isaac spits, “what you said was really homophobic. He doesn’t flaunt his sexuality any more than straight people do. He can make out with anyone he wants.”

Definitely not what Stiles expected him to say. “I don’t think he meant it to come off that way,” he offers. “I think he meant to say that Danny was more… visible than he usually is. Right Derek?”

“I…”

“What does that even mean? Newsflash: gay people exist. Get over it.”

“I don’t have a problem with gay people,” Derek retorts. “I just don’t particularly want to see it.”

“Because you have a problem with gay people.” Isaac’s tether to humanity is visibly fading in his eyes. “You basically just said ‘I’m okay with the existence of gay people as long as I can forget they exist.’”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Tell me, Derek: If I were gay, would you stop talking to me?”

Derek looks to Stiles, who’s just as lost as he is. “Okay, you’re right. Something weird’s going on.” They all notice at the same time that that was in no way an answer to the question.

“He’s not wrong, Derek.” Cora stands up and moves besides Isaac, who seems grateful for the physical show of support. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but you are being a pretty big asshole right now.”

Stiles stands too. This is getting out of hand fast. “Yeah, I’m gonna go. Sorry, guys, I didn’t mean to start a family squabble.”

”Can I come with you?” Isaac moves towards him with a wild look, on the verge of tears. “I don’t think I’m welcome here right now.”

“Isaac, c’mon, don’t do this. He didn’t—”

“Yes he did. Say it, Derek. Say you don’t care if there’s a gay guy living in your apartment.”

Derek is usually pretty subtle with his expressions, but this one is the picture of panicked confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“You really don’t.” Isaac storms into his bedroom. Stiles can’t hear what he mutters, but he can hear the tell-tale signs of a bag being packed haphazardly. Cora walks up to Derek and thumps him on the head.

“What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Stop him!”

Derek shakes his head. “He’s the one freaking out! I have no idea what just happened. I think he just needs to cool off a bit, clear his head. He obviously can’t do that here.”

Stiles has seen Cora angry, usually at him. The icy stare currently penetrating Derek is more terrifying than all those times combined. “Mom would be so pissed at you right now.” And if anything is a slap to the face for Derek, it’s bringing up the other Hales. He growls and brushes past her, slamming the door to his room behind him. Cora turns to Stiles, still shaking with rage but trying to let it seep out of her. “What is going on?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you three would be able to tell me, but clearly that was a bust.”

“Don’t worry about it. They’ll get over themselves eventually. I hope.”

“We might have to help them along on that front.” Isaac emerges with puffy eyes and a backpack. “Ready to go?”

“Yes _please_.” Isaac doesn’t stop, just walks over to the door and leaves without another word.

“I’ll text you,” Stiles promises before following the boy to his Jeep. After driving around a few minutes, he dares to tackle the elephant between them. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Not really,” Isaac huffs, curled in as close to a fetal position as a seatbelt allows. “It’s not my first time having the ‘no fags in my house’ talk. Just wasn’t expecting to have it today, that’s all.”

It occurs to Stiles that he is grossly unequipped to have this conversation. His knowledge of LGBT issues extends to asking Danny if he finds him attractive and that time Caitlin explained bisexuality to him between heavy make-out sessions. Even if he’s fairly sure they need to have this talk right now, for once he has nothing to say. So he changes the subject. “Where do you wanna go?”

“Fuck, I dunno.”

“What about Danny? You two are friends, right?” That has the exact opposite reaction he was hoping. Isaac guffaws bitterly before settling even further into the seat, watching the trees of the preserve pass by in the light of the setting sun. And suddenly everything clicks. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Isaac forces out quietly after a moment. “He’s with Corey now. And even if he wasn’t, he’d never go for me.”

Now, pep talks he can do. “Sure he would! You’re a great guy, you’re funny, you’re good looking, he just doesn’t see it yet.”

“You don’t have to make me feel better. I just need time to get over it. _The course of True Love never did run smooth._ ”

Stiles slams on the breaks, jolting both of them forward and causing Isaac to scramble back into a normal sitting position. He pulls the Jeep over to the gravel curb and turns to face the lovelorn boy. “What did you just say?”

_”The course of True Love never—“_

_”Never did run smooth,”_ Stiles finishes with him. “Scott said the same thing a few hours ago.”

Isaac grunts. “We must have heard it somewhere.”

Something is definitely, 1000% conclusively Up. Stiles gets back on the road and heads home. “I’m gonna drop you off with my dad; you can stay with us as long as you want. I need to check up on a few things. Did anything weird happen to you today?”

“Not really, just Derek being an ass. Though that’s not exactly weird. And, you know, finding out about Danny and Corey.”

“Wait, so they haven’t been seen together before today?”

“Why does it matter? I’m still a day late. He’s been right in front of my face all this time, and the day I figure out what he means to me, he’s off the market for the first time in months.”

It’s not just Scott. Everyone started acting lovey-dovey the same day. He pulls into his driveway and unbuckles his seatbelt to pull Isaac into a hug. Isaac snuffles into his shoulder once before releasing him and getting ready to go inside. “I’ll talk to Derek,” Stiles assures him. “I think he just needs some time to get used to the idea.”

“Thanks, but I’m not holding my breath. I don’t want to be something people ‘get used to’.”

~~~

Maybe this is what Derek’s parents had meant when they said he still had a lot of growing to do. He’s never felt more like a clueless teenager than he does blasting Mickey’s favorite albums from the 90s and growling into his pillow about a stupid fight he doesn’t even understand. And unlike Laura or Mickey before him, he doesn’t have the luxury of his parents to come in and tell him everything will be okay. All he has is his overworked little sister and an empty room down the hall that reminds him _everything he touches goes to shit_.

“Derek!” Cora shouts, even though they both know he could hear her just fine at a normal volume, even over the stereo’s wailing. “Derek, c’mon open the door!” 

“It’s open,” he grumbles into the mattress, not bothering to move when Cora opens the door, turns down the music, and sits beside him.

“Not that I’m not enjoying the role reversal here, but you’re a grown fucking adult, in human time and in ours. What gives?”

“Eighteen is still my teens. Sometimes people just need to listen to sad music and brood.”

“Oh, so _this_ is brooding. I thought that was just your default setting.”

“Go away.” He pointedly draws the covers over his head, which she promptly pulls back.

“Derek, you have to start talking to me. The last time you held onto something that was bothering you it was the bombshell that your ex-girlfriend was—“

”CORA,” he growls in his werewolf tone. “You know you can’t just bring shit up like that whenever.” He doesn’t acknowledge it often, but last year when Dr. Deaton advised him to talk to his sister, Ms. Morell, she diagnosed him with PTSD. She said it was common for… well, people in his situation. Between the fire and Peter and who _set_ the fire and how she obtained the information necessary to… it was just, hard for him to make it through the past two years. PTSD is one of the few things his super healing can’t do much about, at least no faster than a human might cope with it. Cora’s getting better at understanding how her brother’s brain works now, but she still makes mistakes. Painful mistakes.

“I’m sorry,” she sighs. “And I’m sorry for bringing up mom earlier. That was a low blow.”

He turns beneath his pile of blankets to face the wall opposite the door. “You’re not wrong. I don’t actually care that he’s gay, you know? I just… this came out of nowhere. It all happened so fast and before I knew it he was out the door. Like, this is weird, right?”

”For him, yeah. But I think this has been building for a while.”

“What do you mean?”

Cora shifts on the bed to face him, and he feels calm enough to emerge from his cocoon and sit up as well. “The things he says sometimes made me wonder. We all know his dad was a raging asshole but it also seems like he was extremely homophobic towards him and one of his friends growing up. I think Isaac had a crush on the kid and his dad made sure he didn’t anymore.”

Apparently it’s possible for Derek to feel even more like a douche than he already did. “When did he tell you this?”

“Well he didn’t tell me exactly, but it came up a month or so after he moved in. Remember when Matt was doing his kanima business?” How could he forget? He had to get all new IDs and a new phone after his pool adventure with Stiles. “Matt was the childhood friend.”

Oh. Well then. “That explains a lot actually.”

“See? It’s almost like, if you two had talked it out you wouldn’t be having this problem.” Sarcasm is a staple of Hale family talks. Not dignifying her snark with anything more than an eyeroll is a traditional and pleasing response.

“That doesn’t mean something strange isn’t happening.” Stiles takes that fortuitous moment to arrive at their complex. Cora gets up to let him in as Derek turns off his stereo and grabs a water from the kitchen. By the time he joins them in the living room, Stiles has already plopped a notebook and several dusty tomes on the coffee table, dragging the blanket on the back of the couch over himself.

“Deaton wasn’t too happy about an after-hours visit, but he had a few things that might come in handy.” He hands one to Derek titled _Potions and Charms, Volume II_. The brittle pages don’t seem too amused about being turned; his father the archivist would probably have shoved a pair of gloves at him just for glancing at it.

“What exactly are we looking for?”

“I think there’s a love spell going around. We’re looking for anything that can make someone fall deeply in love with another person, especially if it tends to be contagious.”

Cora blinks at him. “Contagious?”

“Or, you know, able to be administered on a wide scale. This is way bigger than I thought.”

“What makes you say it’s a love spell?”

“Think about it. Way more PDA than usual, really random couples showing up out of nowhere, Isaac suddenly being in love with Danny and viciously defending his honor? This has True Lurrve written all over it.”

About half an hour into skimming the _1200 page_ volume (without a damn index or table of contents, or even a semblance of order), Derek slams the book shut with a frustrated rush of air. Stiles’s phone has been buzzing incessantly for the past three minutes and he refuses to answer it. “Stiles! Just answer the damn phone or turn it off.”

”Psh, yeah right. Every time we turn our phones off, something goes wrong.”

“Then answer it,” Derek grounds out. After a second, it stops vibrating.

“See? Problem solved.”

The phone starts vibrating again, to Cora’s amusement. Before Stiles can stop him, Derek swipes it and sees who he’s avoiding. “Scott?”

“Derek? Why are you answering Stiles’s phone? Is everything okay??”

“He’s fine. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just need to talk to him. It’s important.”

He tries to hand off the phone to Stiles, but he’s frantically gesturing for Derek to get rid of him. Derek grins evilly and puts Scott on speakerphone. “He says it’s important, Stiles.”

“Put him on,” Scott demands as Stiles swears creatively.

“You’re on speaker. What’s up?”

“Umm… actually it’s kinda personal.” Ohhhhh. Cora and Derek share a look of recognition as Stiles valiantly attempts to grab the phone from his hand.

Derek grins. “Is that so?”

“I hate you so much,” Stiles hisses.

“Stiles? What’s going on?”

“Look, Scott, I’m kinda busy with something right now. Any progress on that thing you were telling me about?”

“No, I couldn’t find it. It’s probably nothing, but I just wanted to make sure. Deaton said that stump was pretty powerful.”

There’s only one stump Derek knows of that Scott could be worried about. “You’re looking for the Nemeton?”

“Yeah,” Scott responds, surprised. “Do you know where it is?”

‘ _All too well._ ’ “Why do you wanna know?”

“Lydia keeps drawing it. She’s really creeped out.”

Derek sighs. “Well stay away from it. That tree is bad news.”

“How can he stay away from it if he doesn’t know where it is,” Stiles retorts.

Scott’s snicker is actually closer to a giggle. “He’s got a point. I’ll stop by the apartment and you can show me where it is.”

Stiles makes a mad grab for the phone. “Actually Scott it’s kinda late, maybe we should do it tomorrow. You know, get a good night’s rest, maybe clear our heads a little?”

Scott is quiet a moment, probably gathering the courage he needs to say what he says next. “Stiles, can we please talk about it?”

“Tomorrow. Please.”

The alpha sighs dejectedly. “Okay. See you all tomorrow. Love you, Stiles.”

“Love you too,” Stiles grounds out, giving Derek and Cora the death glare as they try their damnedest not to burst out laughing. They give up on holding it in as soon as the call ends.

“So _that’s_ why you’re so hell-bent on figuring this out,” Cora chuckles.

Stiles sinks lower into the couch. “You two are horrible people.”

”What’s the big deal,” Derek smirks. “You and Scott are practically married as it is. I doubt anyone would notice the difference.”

“What’s the big deal, says the guy who just kicked a queer kid out of his house.”

Stiles realizes that was too far the second he says it. Derek immediately shuts down whatever expression he had on and goes back to pretending to skim the book in front of him. After several tense minutes of complete silence, he extends a small concession. “If you and Scott _were_ dating, I wouldn’t make fun of you for it. I’d joke with you, but I wouldn’t… you know.”

“Thanks,” Stiles clips out, “but Scott’s straight. He’s just temporarily whammied. And I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

No, he’s not.


	2. You Do Advance Your Cunning More and More

When she reaches the last page, Cora closes her assigned spellbook triumphantly and gets up from her recliner to brew a pot of coffee. The boys fell asleep on the couch last night and are currently snuggled up to one another, books on the floor where they fell out of their laps. Cora snaps a quick photo on her phone with a grin and heads for the shower.

So far they haven’t found much by way of actual spells. One looked promising until they figured out that one of the ingredients went extinct in the 17th century, so it probably wasn’t that one. What they do have is a list of questions:

Does the potion/spell/whatever make you fall in love with anyone, or only someone you already had a crush on?  
How are so many people affected? Is it in the water supply?  
Does it wear off, or do you need a counterspell/antidote?  
Assuming it’s random (and they figured out how they got it in the first place), if the person is exposed a second time, do they fall for a new partner, or is it a first-come, first-served kind of thing?  
Since Cora’s aromantic, does that mean she’s immune?

Okay, so she’s never really voiced that one out loud, seeing as her brother apparently can’t wrap his brain around gay people, let alone the difference between sexual and romantic orientation. But she’s definitely thought about it. If she’s immune then she’s probably the town’s best bet for making sure this gets solved.

By the time she gets out of the shower, Stiles and Derek are already on opposite sides of the apartment. Too bad she missed the awkward wake-up scene. She sidles up next to Stiles in the kitchen and pours herself some coffee. “God morning, Stiles,” she sings, voice dripping with sweetness. “How’d you sleep?”

It’s cute that Stiles thinks he has an intimidating stare, especially with his ridiculous bed-head. “I hate morning people. I don’t trust them.”

“Nor should you,” Cora replies, stuffing bread into the toaster. She sits at the kitchen table across from him, where he’s chewing on a pen-cap and studying a piece of paper. “Whatcha got there?”

He sighs and pushes the piece of paper towards her. On it is written, ‘ _The course of True Love never did run smooth._ ’ “Both Scott and Isaac said it yesterday. I’m trying to figure out what it means.”

“It sounds familiar. Did you try Googling it?”

“It’s from _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. But I don’t know why that particular quote.”

“Which one’s that again?”

“It’s the one where there’s these four nobles in a love quadrangle and they go into the forest and the fairies… oh duh.”

“What?”

“Of COURSE.” Stiles jumps up from the table and brushes past Derek, who had just joined them in the doorway. “Derek, do you have a copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_?” Stiles boots up his laptop and starts typing frantically.

“Yeah, why?”

“Think about it; what do the fairies use to fuck with the lovers?” Derek’s eyebrows crinkle in recognition.

”Lemme guess,” Cora responds. “A love potion.” Derek rushes off to his room as Cora opens up the book she was plastered to last night. “One of the spells in here mentioned Midsummer. Is that important?”

“Maybe,” Derek interjects as he emerges with his copy of the play. “Midsummer is a pagan holiday celebrating the summer solstice. The love spell could be a ritual, maybe for fertility?”

And with that Stiles and Derek are in their own world. “Yeah, but fertility’s more associated with May Day.”

“Shakespeare’s noticeably fuzzy on time in this play though. I wrote a paper on ritual and the fairy world for English last year; there’s quite a few references to May Day even though the title says it’s Midsummer. If the book’s late enough, it could be referencing the play not the actual day.”

Cora glances at her phone: 10 minutes until first period. “Whatever, I’ll find it later tonight. We gotta go or Harris’ll fail us.”

Stiles looks down at yesterday’s outfit. “Fuck, I forgot about school. Can I borrow some clothes?”

”Only if you promise not to get mystery stains on them this time.”

“Dude,” Stiles scoffs as he follows Derek to his room. “You know exactly what that was. You’re the one who let me get attacked by a sludge monster.”

Cora grabs her stuff and Derek’s keys. He hates it when she drives the Camaro, but it was Laura’s, not his. He’ll get over it. She smirks at the curse from the apartment as she puts the keys in the ignition. “Let’s go boys!”

She and Stiles slide into chemistry five seconds before the final bell. Harris makes some snarky comment that she doesn’t listen to. There’s a lot more of interest among the students.

She can’t tell whether things have gotten worse or if she just knows what to look for now. The two boys who sit in front of her have been passing nauseatingly cutesy love notes back and forth all period, while their girlfriends look on in frustration. The girl at the table next to her is drilling holes in the back of Scott’s head with her ‘fuck me’ eyes. And she _really_ doesn’t want to turn around and find the source of the rancid-boy-hormones smell coming from the back of the room.

If anyone thinks these turns of events are out of the ordinary, they’re playing close to the vest. Is everyone brainwashed or are they just oblivious? Then again, humans don’t usually jump immediately to ‘something magical is fucking up the town yet again’. They _should_ if they want to survive Beacon Hills, but they don’t.

Cora is in AP Calculus with Lydia and Derek, and while she usually doesn’t mind sitting between them, she’s still kinda mad at Derek for what he did to Isaac. Also, Lydia refuses to look at her or say a word. “So, I heard you’re having tree problems.” Lydia doesn’t answer, she just calmly closes her notebook and moves to a different row.

“What’d you do,” Derek asks as she sits down. “Murder her dog?”

Cora holds her jacket hood up to her face. “Does she smell extra perfume-y today?”

”Yes,” Derek breathes out, “whatever you did, I’m honestly kinda glad you made her leave.”

“I don’t even get why she’s here if she doesn’t want to talk to me so badly, we all know she’s just retaking this class for shits and giggles.”

“And have her skip a class?” Derek gasps, mock scandalized.

The period is uneventful with the exception of a few glares directed her way from Lydia. Seriously, whatever she did to piss her off, a clue would be nice. About five minutes before the bell, Lydia gets up and wanders out of the classroom, not even bothering to respond to the teacher asking what she’s doing. She seems dazed, eyes glossed over as if she’s in another realm. She’s been doing that a lot recently. Cora asks to follow her but the teacher tells her not to. She can tell Derek has the same idea as they both listen very intently to her footsteps, slow and even as she makes her way down the hallway.

Suddenly, they can hear her all too clearly, as can everyone in the school. The scream coming from Lydia is not human; one of these days they’ll figure out what she is, but right now, they need to figure out what’s happening. Cora and Derek are off like a shot and by her side in a matter of seconds, Scott right behind them. The wolves follow Lydia’s line of sight to the figure of Jared hanging from a rope tied to the second story railing. Derek is on his way up the staircase before Cora can even process what she’s seeing.

“ _The course… of True Love.. never…_ Jared manages to choke out before Derek slices the rope away from its mooring. Cora springs into action and catches the boy before he hits the ground, already working the noose away from his neck. A crowd has formed around them, Stiles having finally made it to Lydia’s side, panting heavily. She seems to have woken from her trance and is hiding her face in Stiles’s shoulder. Jared’s heartbeat is weak but he’s alive, a point she relays to the relieved onlookers. As they’re waiting for the ambulance, she locks eyes with Greenberg across the crowd. He looks like he’s about to faint, but that’s not what draws her attention. He moves his jacket to cover up something at his waist and hurries away from the scene.

Something in her says she needs to follow him, but she’s distracted by the dying boy in her arms. When he’s loaded onto the ambulance, most of the pack is asked to stay to give statements, but the rest of the school day is cancelled, so once the police release them Scott calls a pack meeting, which they convene in the chemistry classroom. The energy in the room is like something out of a telenovela, complete with dramatic posturing as everyone avoids looking at each other— or looks too long. Scott and Allison, usually attached at the hip, have no interest in each other as Scott tries to get Stiles’s attention and Allison stands a _little_ too close to Boyd for his comfort. Isaac and Lydia are both on the complete other side of the room to the rest of the pack, pointedly avoiding the Hales, although Lydia keeps looking at Cora like she’s waiting for something. Jackson is taking non-stop photos of himself.

No one seems inclined to begin, so Cora gets the ball rolling, none too kindly. “Scott! Do you mind?”

With visible effort he snaps out of it and takes charge. “Right, so obviously something weird’s going on here, and right now we have more questions than answers. What do we know?”

Lydia is the first to speak, although she’s clearly still shaken. “He said something as he was hanging. Something about true love…”

Cora, Derek, and Stiles share a frustrated glance. “It’s from a Shakespeare play,” Derek confirms. “Cora, Stiles, and I spent all last night chasing up leads in Deaton’s archives.”

”Why didn’t you tell me? I would have come help.”

“Look Scott, I didn’t wanna tell you this, but I think you’ve been hit with a love spell.”

“Oh,” the alpha replies. It’s not a fun thought process to watch. After a moment, he steels himself and begins divvying up orders. “Right, well how about you and Derek keep doing that until you figure out the most likely cause and any ways to reverse it. Allison, you and Isaac keep an eye on Jared in case anything else happens to him. Cora, I want you to take me and Lydia to the nemeton.”

”Absolutely not. It’s not something you should mess with, and even if I wanted to I don’t want to deal with her glaring at me the whole time.”

Lydia looks up at that. “Excuse me? What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

”It means you haven’t spoken to me all day and you’re acting like I personally burned every notebook you own. What gives?”

”I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“How do you know it’s a love spell,” Jackson interjects, not looking up from his phone and ten seconds behind the rest of the conversation. “Nothing seems all that different.”

”Maybe not for you,” Stiles mumbles. If Jackson hears him, he ignores it.

”Obviously if someone’s under a love spell they’re probably not going to _know_ they’re under a spell,” Cora explains. “To them the feelings are extremely real.”

“Look,” Scott says a little louder than he needs to, “I don’t know why, but whatever’s going on here, I think the Nemeton has something to do with it. That and the books are the only lead we have.”

Cora remembers what she wanted to say before the paramedics came. “I might have another lead. Greenberg was acting real weird just an hour ago. Like he knew something.”

”Yeah, he was being weird yesterday too,” Allison added.

“I thought it was just me,” Jackson says offhandedly.

“Okay—Erica, Boyd, I want you to stake out Greenberg’s house and see if he’s up to anything. Jackson, you—Jackson!”

“What?” He finally looks up from his phone. Everyone is staring at him, as if he isn’t always a self-centered douchecanoe. Although admittedly, he had gotten slightly better since the kanima debacle, and this level of narcissism is extreme even for him. “I was talking to Danny,” he lies half-heartedly, not even bothering to mask his tripping heartbeat.

”Shit,” Isaac curses suddenly. “What if Jared’s not the only one?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if this thing progresses until you can’t… live anymore?” It’s something they hadn’t thought about, and something they didn’t particularly _want_ to think about either.

“If that happens, CALL ME.” The vehemence with which Scott says it indicates that this is both the command of an alpha and the plea of a friend. “I don’t care what else is happening, if you reach that point, you call me, and we’ll figure it out.”

Isaac clears his throat. “Jackson, could you… um… keep an eye on Danny tonight? Just in case?”

Jackson looks to Scott for permission, who gives it easily with a nod of his head. “Obviously. I’m not gonna let one of _you_ losers take care of him.”

Scott rolls his eyes but doesn’t comment. “All that leaves is you, Cora.”

She sighs. “Look, Scott, I think it’s a bad idea, especially given everyone’s… mental states. If you make me, I’ll do it, but I just want the record to show that I’m not happy about it.”

“Noted. Please keep your phones on, everyone. Report back if you find anything.”

The pack splits up into their assigned tasks, leaving Cora with Scott and an even more pissed-looking Lydia.

Delightful.

~~~

Boyd is sitting next to his girlfriend, staking out Greenberg’s house, and cursing his luck.

Not even a day after he and Erica finally decided they wanted to date, this whole love spell nonsense broke out. Of course, Erica didn’t know that at the time, so when Allison was suddenly all over him in second period, they got in a convoluted fight that ended with Erica storming off. Now that they know there’s a love spell in play, the tension between them has lessened, but Erica has said nothing the entire run over to Greenberg’s house.

Luckily, they’re on stakeout, so silence is warranted, and Boyd’s certainly not the type to break it for no reason. Greenberg is currently at the table with his parents, pushing his lunch around his plate while his parents talk at him worriedly. It’s slightly disconcerting watching them through the window, but Boyd figures they’ve done sketchier things.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she eventually offers.

“Yeah, me too.”

“I should have trusted you.”

“Yeah, but if you don’t that’s my problem, not yours.”

“It’s both our problem, it’s something we should have talked through together.” He shrugs in agreement and returns his attention to the Greenbergs. “Anyway, umm, I think we should break up.”

Boyd whips his head back around to look at her. “What? Why?”

“I think I got hit with whatever’s going on. I dunno, I suddenly have this major crush on Lydia, and whether or not it’s real you shouldn’t have to see that. I still… I think I still want this, but we should wait for this all to blow over.”

It pains him to see the confusion and sadness in her eyes, so he looks away. Instead, he reaches a hand out that she takes firmly in hers. “If that’s what you want. But you don’t have to worry about me, I can take it.” She kisses his hand and releases it, resuming her silent vigil.

About half an hour later, Greenberg finally excuses himself and goes to his room. By the time Boyd and Erica have relocated to the tree outside his window, he’s already pacing the floor and reading a book. Boyd focuses on his frantic muttering.

“…warning labels were invented, who just casually forgets to mention it could be fatal?! Okay focus, there has to be an antidote, right? C’mon, c’mon. Damn it!” Greenberg comes to the window and stares out it into the forest as Boyd and Erica scramble behind a large branch. “Fuck. Welp, looks like it’s back to the creepy tree stump.”

“You take the back, I’ll take the front,” Erica says, already on the ground. He nods and hustles to the back door. When the door opens, he makes a grab for Greenberg but the flower in his hand squirts a liquid into his eyes that stings before becoming remarkably soothing.

“HOLY SHIT,” Greenberg yells, footsteps heading for the forest.

“Fuck,” he hears Erica breathe out. “Greenberg, get back here!”

Boyd shouts after her, “get the flower!” He wipes his eyes and looks up to see Erica running into the woods. Not much really changes—he was already in love to start with.

~~~

The ride to the hospital is quiet but not uncomfortable. The three weeks Allison and Isaac dated while she and Scott were ‘on a break’ and the ensuing drama are a distant memory. He’s glad they were all able to remain friends, because it’s not like he has a lot of those to fall back on. These past two years with the pack are the most popular he’s ever been, and he’s not about to lose the people who have had his back this whole time. Although that seems to be happening anyway ever since all this love potion stuff.

Allison breaks the silence as she pulls into the parking lot. “So, I heard you’re staying with Stiles now.”

“Yeah, uhhh, Derek and I got in a fight.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Nah, I already unloaded on Stiles about it. Let’s just say Derek’s got some learning to do when it comes to queer people.”

“Oh.” Allison doesn’t follow up until they reach the elevator. “Was it a hypothetical argument or… more personal?”

Isaac rubs his hand down his face. “He said some shit about Danny so I defended him and kinda outed myself in the process and he all but kicked me out.”

Allison stops halfway out of the elevator and looks back at him. “What?!”

“Yeah.”

As they pass a nurse, Allison whispers, “do you want me to beat him up for you?”

“No,” chuckles Isaac, “I can kick his ass myself just fine.”

When they reach Jared’s room, they are relieved to discover that physically he’s fine, but he’s sleeping when they arrive. They wait outside his room for him to wake up, hoping to catch him before he gets moved to the psych ward. It’s unlikely he’ll be allowed visitors in the timeframe they need.

“So Danny, huh? At least you have good taste.”

Isaac can’t control the grin that takes over at the mere mention of his name. “Yeah, he’s pretty great. Too bad he has a boyfriend.”

“Curse boyfriend or actual boyfriend?”

“I don’t know, that’s the problem.”

“Wait did you like him before all this?”

“Well, I didn’t _not_ like him, but he wasn’t the only person I had my eye on. Now he’s all I think about.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling,” she commiserates without looking at him.

Isaac returns the question: “so Boyd, huh?”

Allison snorts. “Yeah. It’s so weird too because I remember being in love with Scott, and in my head I know that’s who I’m dating and that Boyd’s happily with Erica, but it feels _real_ , like I didn’t truly know love until I saw him.

“It is real,” Isaac argues. “It’s just temporary. Doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“Got that right. And Boyd and I are barely even friends after the whole ‘I-tried-to-hunt-you-and-your-girlfriend’ situation. Not exactly the best basis for a relationship.”

”Well,” prompts Isaac semi-ironically, “you know what they say—“

 _”The course of True Love never did run smooth.”_ , they recite with a chuckle at the ridiculousness that is their lives.

About a minute later, Isaac hears a stirring in the room. He signals to Allison that Jared’s awake and they head in to see him. The bruising on his neck is prominent but he seems to be breathing fine. He must have been given a sedative because he sits up lethargically at their entrance and speaks in slow, slurred sentences. “What happened?”

“We were gonna ask you the same thing. Do you remember anything?”

“Umm… last I remember I was talking to Greenberg—”Isaac and Allison share a pointed look—“and then… oh, wow, I tried to… well that’s embarrassing.” He lets out a half-laugh-half-sob.

“You’re okay,” Allison assures him. “We know this is hard to talk about and probably not the best time, but we really need your help. Do you remember what you and Greenberg were talking about?”

“…is he in trouble?”

“We’re not sure, but we think he might be involved in some… strange things happening at school.”

He looks at them in wary confusion before his eyes widen in recognition. He coughs and reaches for the water on the bedside table. “No, I don’t really remember. It was something random.”

Even Allison can hear the shift in his heartrate thanks to the monitor, a fact Jared sheepishly acknowledges with a sigh. “Look I don’t expect you to understand, but I’m not gonna rat out the person I love to a werewolf and a hunter.”

Isaac smirks. “Did you figure that out on your own or did Greenberg tell you?” Jared starts to answer but resumes sipping his water. “We don’t want to hurt him, we just need him to stop hurting other people. He almost got you killed.”

“He didn’t know! He… look, he didn’t make me do anything. We got in a fight, I had an episode, it’s not his fault.”

“Well we think your ‘episode’ is a side effect of whatever he’s doing to people to make them fall in love with random people.”

“He didn’t ‘make’ me fall in love with him, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Mhmm, and how long have you felt this way about him?”

Jared squirms in anger and shame. “Just because I only realized it a couple days ago doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

“We understand that, trust us. But he could hurt others. Love isn’t something you should meddle with.”

After a frustrated sigh Jared puts his glass down and puts his head in his hands. “I know. I told him the same thing.” He looks at them directly, tears building and threatening to break free. “I didn’t wanna believe it but… Ever since the Hale fire Greenberg’s been obsessed with the supernatural. Usually it’s just harmless digging but one day I come over and he’s talking about a love spell some guy did in Illinois and I thought he was just on another research bender but my brain fogs over for a couple minutes and suddenly it hits me that I’m hopelessly in love with him so I kiss him and he runs off excitedly and I wait for him to come back but I don’t see him until the next day at school and he has this flower and it spritzes _something_ on people and then suddenly they’re in love with each other and today I confronted him about it and he basically said it was his business and I tried to reason with him and then he, he…”

Allison is already in the hallway calling Scott about the flower. Isaac puts his hand lightly on Jared’s shoulder and takes some of his pain; between the raspiness of his damaged throat and the emotional turmoil there’s a lot to give. “Slow down, you’re doing great. Did he say why he’s doing it?”

Jared shakes his head. “No but I don’t think it works on him. He tried spritzing himself while he stared right at me and then he said he felt nothing. He ran off and then I, well… you know the rest.”

“We’re gonna fix this. Just hang in there.” Jared grabs Isaac’s hand when he tries to leave.

“When you see him, tell him… tell him it’s not his fault. Make sure he knows that.”

Isaac nods and heads into the hallway just as Allison hangs up with their alpha. “Scott wants us to meet at the Nemeton, Derek’s gonna lead us all there.”

Great, just who he wanted to see. “Fine. I gotta make a call first.”

“Good luck,” Allison sing-songs as she passes by to wait in the car. Isaac pulls out his phone and calls Jackson.

“Danny’s fine, Isaac.”

Isaac hopes his eyeroll is implied. “Awesome, well then you won’t mind putting him on.”

“Nice try,” Jackson chortles. “Danny already has a boyfriend. Let it go and get out of my mirror.”

“Just fucking put him on.”

Jackson sighs obnoxiously loud into the phone. “Fiiine, Danny it’s for you.”

When he hears Danny’s quizzical ‘hello?’ Isaac’s heart skips a beat. He sounds even more beautiful than he remembered. “Hey Danny.”

“What is up with everyone tonight?” Danny laughs. “Did someone put a hit out on me or something?”

“No, we just…” This is a lot more nerve-wracking than he thought. “We just care about you is all.”

“Okayyyy… Isaac you know I have a boyfriend right?”

“No I know, I just umm… I need to know. Before you guys got together, if I’d asked you out would you have said yes? Or did I not even stand a chance?”

The fond guffaw is as endearing as it is terrifying. “I don’t know, probably, but you didn’t so—“

“Right, no totally. Umm, thanks. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

~~~

There are few social situations Scott can think of that are more uncomfortable than walking with Cora and Lydia to the Nemeton. Lydia still refuses to acknowledge Cora’s presence and Cora for her part is ignoring her right back. All of Scott’s attempts to get them to say anything have been unsuccessful. So when they do start talking, he has some slight hope that perhaps things are cooling down.

“We’ve passed this tree already.”

“No we haven’t.”

“Yes we have, I noticed those markings on the way in.”

Welp, so much for that.

“I think I’m a little more qualified to know if we’re lost in these woods than you.”

“And I think you’re too stubborn to admit you’re wrong”

“Well then why don’t you lead the way, princess?”

“Excuse me?”

“If you know these woods so well.”

They have stopped moving by this point so Lydia marches up to Cora until their faces are inches apart. “Who do you think you are?”

“Do you want the bitchy answer or the even bitchier answer?”

Suddenly Cora and Lydia are making out and yeah okay that makes a lot of sense. “Guys, can we do this later?” As if shocked by something, Cora springs away from Lydia.

“Scott’s right, we shouldn’t do this now.”

Lydia steps closer undeterred. “The tree can wait.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re only doing this because of the flower.”

“That’s not true!” Her voice is confident but her face shows doubt.

“Tell you what,” Cora concedes. “If you still wanna fuck me after we find an antidote, come talk to me.”

“Deal.” With that, the three of them resume their quest for the Nemeton. They had in fact been going in circles, but perhaps with that out of the way Cora will be able to focus. After a minute or so, Scott’s phone rings.

“Allison, did you talk to Jared?”

“Yea, it’s definitely Greenberg. He’s using some sort of magical flower that squirts the love potion.”

“Eww.”

“Do you want us to stay here and see if we can get anything else out of him?”

“No, go meet up with Derek and Stiles, see if they found anything, and have Derek escort you to the Nemeton. We’ll regroup there.”

“Okay.” The line stays connected. “Scott?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

Scott sighs. “Yeah, me too.” He hangs up and starts thinking about when all of this could have started. He and Allison were just beginning to patch things up after the Peter/Gerard fiasco, but then suddenly Scott’s feelings changed. He thinks back to his conversation with Stiles.

_It all started innocently enough. He went over to see Stiles on a clear mission: keep him out of pack business. Of course, when he said that, Stiles was in no way on board with that plan._

_“After everything we’ve been through, you’re gonna cut me out, like that?”_

_“It’s too dangerous, you’re human.”_

_“Yeah, and as you yourself have mentioned several times, that doesn’t make me any less a part of this pack. Where is this coming from? Did something happen?”_

_Scott can’t quite remember why it was so important, but he had a very good reason. He’s sure of it. “I’m just trying to protect you.”_

_“No, you’re trying to get rid of me. You are a werewolf, Scott, and if you don’t want me involved in werewolf stuff, then that means you don’t want me involved in your life. And I think as your best friend since fucking second grade I deserve at least an explanation.”_

_Scott stares at him in disbelief. How could Stiles think he didn’t want him? He pulls the boy who’s always been by his side to his side, envelops him in his arms. “I’ll always want you in my life,” he whispers. “Always. But I need to keep you safe, Stiles. I love you too much to lose you.” At a loss to communicate to this beautiful, loyal, brilliant boy just how much he means to him, Scott suddenly realizes what he needs to do. Ever so gently, he presses his lips to Stiles’s. Almost as a reflex, Stiles kisses him back before pulling away. Stiles, never at a loss for words, wriggles out of Scott’s embrace and shakes his head silently, eyes wide and searching. Scott takes the hint and leaves as suddenly as he came._

But what happened before that? When did he realize he had these feelings for Stiles? If he can figure out when Greenberg cursed them all then maybe he can recognize a general timeline of how this potion’s effects develop. The last time he saw Greenberg was… lacrosse practice! He and Stiles were in the locker room exiting the showers, and Greenberg was there and then suddenly he wasn’t? That part is extremely fuzzy. The next thing he remembers is Stiles dressing and him thinking that he never noticed quite how attractive Stiles is until just now.

That was yesterday. He’s not sure if that’s a really good sign or a really bad sign. His phone rings again.

Before he can even say hello, Boyd’s voice comes through the speakers. “Greenberg’s on the run, Erica’s chasing him into the forest.” Well, that makes their job easier.

~~~

Stiles throws Derek’s copy of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ onto the coffee table with a groan. “Figures, we have the day off from school but we still have to read.”

Derek doesn’t look up from the volume Cora had indicated earlier. “You love reading, I once saw you write a 10-page research paper for literally no reason other than you were bored.”

“Yeah, when it’s something I like or am interested in. When it’s something I hate, like Shakespeare, I can’t do it.”

Derek looks at him quizzically. “What do you have against Shakespeare?”

“Early Modern English, that’s what.”

“Once you get the hang of the meter it makes a lot more sense,” Derek shrugs.

“I feel like that’s one of those things teachers tell you to make you feel better but actually isn’t true.”

Derek sighs and closes the book he’s no closer to finishing and picks up the play. Flipping to a random page, he scoots closer to Stiles and looks in his eyes.  
“ _I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again_  
_Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note_  
_So is mine eye enthralled unto thy shape_  
_And thy fair virtue’s force (perforce) doth move me_  
_On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee"_  


Stiles is frozen in place, watching him. He’s not quite sure what he’s feeling, just that Derek’s really… good at acting; that must be it. His mouth is suddenly dry. “W-what does that mean?”

Derek mercifully leaves Stiles’s personal space and chuckles. “What do you think it means? It’s basically describing what we’ve been dealing with, they just wake up one moment and are suddenly in love with someone.”

Stiles grins. “Great, so you can read it, how about we switch?”

Derek side-eyes him fondly and settles in with the script. “Just leave it,” he says with a wave of his hand towards the other book. “Cora’ll probably have a better shot remembering where the spell is.” With nothing better to do, Stiles considers their situation. At this rate, all of Beacon Hills will be embroiled in a confusing, dramatic love mess, they’ll be known as the town of—

“I just remembered something.”

“What?” Stiles doesn’t respond, pulling up his laptop. He’s not quite sure how to search for something like this, but all he remembers about the story was that there was a town full of gay. After typing “town full of gay,” he finds an article talking about the story. “Stiles?”

“Right, sorry,” he replies. “Remember a few years back there was a story about this town where everyone turned gay for like a day and they all got married and it was super weird because the next day they all got divorced?”

“Vaguely, you think that’s what’s happening here?”

“It’s worth a shot. Lemme see if I can find some more info on it.” He starts combing the town’s papers from around the day in question. Just as he’s about to give up, a headline catches his eye: TOWN DIVIDED OVER SHAKESPEARE’S MIDSUMMER. “Oh holy shit.”

“What?” Derek comes up behind him to see what he’s looking at.

“Get this, the same week of the love fest, an all-boys school was putting on a production of _Midsummer_."

“So this has happened before.” For some reason Derek looming behind him is more unnerving than usual.

“Apparently, but as far as I know no one’s putting it on any time soon in Beacon Hills.”

Derek thankfully moves to open the front door, and a moment later Allison and Isaac come through the doorway. “Scott wants us to meet him at the Nemeton,” Allison reports. “We have a major lead.”

“So do we. Apparently this has happened before.”

Isaac is still quiet behind her as she tells them what they learned. “Yeah, Jared said Greenberg got the idea for the spell from someone else.”

“We know it has something to do with this play. Derek, is there anything in there describing how the love juice was made?”

Derek answers awkwardly in the unbearably tense room. “Yes, but it’s vague and probably not helpful.” He picks up the script and thumbs through until he finds the passage. “It’s called love-in-idleness, basically the story goes that Cupid shot an arrow, missed, and hit a flower, and now it makes a love potion.”

“Great, okay, so we make Greenberg give us the flower and then what?”

“It’s not that simple. The antidote is a separate herb.”

“Of course it is,” Stiles huffs. “Why would this be easy…”

Allison grabs his arm. “We can figure that out later, right now we have to stop Greenberg from enchanting anyone else. Derek, can you lead us there?” The car ride to the preserve is even tenser than the apartment was. Stiles and Allison try to make small talk, but nothing can cut the menacing silence of the wolves.

Derek finally speaks fifteen minutes after the four have entered the forest. “Now we wait.”

Allison looks at him with confusion. “For what?”

“The Nemeton is cloaked, it has to let you find it.”

”What does that even mean?!” Stiles sputters.

“Just relax.” Stiles wants to make a comment about the strangeness of Derek Angst Hale saying to relax, but he wisely holds his tongue, for once. He just stands there in yet another awkward silence waiting for an invitation from a magic tree stump. Eventually, Derek starts walking and they follow him for a minute, when sure enough a clearing with a giant stump appears. Scott, Cora, and Lydia are already there, and it seems their time together was just as unbearable.

“Huh, whaddya know, it does exist.”

Scott smiles at him softly. “Did you find an antidote?”

“Not yet,” Derek replies. “We think it might be somewhere in one of Deaton’s books but we couldn’t find it before you called us here. Do you have Greenberg yet?”

“Boyd and Erica are chasing him down now.”

“Literally,” adds Cora. At least that should be short work.

Finally, Isaac enters the conversation. “What does the tree have to do with this?”

“We don’t know yet,” Cora answers. 

Lydia, who has been staring off absently, continues doing so as she asks, “what type of flower did you say it was?”

“Love-in-idleness.”

“You mean like that?” She points to the white flowers growing at the Nemeton’s base.

“That’s a pansy.”

Lydia looks at Stiles like he’s even more unimpressive than she thought possible. “Exactly, _viola tricolor_ also known as:”

“Love-in-idleness,” Derek supplies. “Shouldn’t it be purple though?”

“Maybe it doesn’t work unless you turn it purple with the magical power of love,” Cora quips.

Derek glares at his sister. “I know you’re joking but you’re actually probably correct.”

A loud rustling in the trees attracts the pack’s attention. Boyd and Erica come running towards them. “We lost him,” Boyd pants.

“He just disappeared. Has he always been magic?”

Well, isn’t that just fantastic. Scott deflates, almost in agreement. “It’s getting dark, we’ll be even less likely to find him then. Someone call Jackson and Danny and have them meet us at the apartment. I want us all together when we finally figure out the antidote.”

A bunch of lovesick werewolves in a confined space? Stiles is fairly sure this will all end in tears.


	3. What Graces in My Love Do Dwell

If there was any doubt about the supernatural nature of this wave of infatuations, the scene back at the apartment demonstrates just how on edge everyone is. Allison stands in the corner next to Boyd, who stands next to Erica, who stands next to Lydia, who sits next to Cora, who is studiously ignoring her in favor of trying to find the antidote. Lydia can certainly admire a woman dedicated to books, but she wishes more than anything that she would spare a look for _her_.

 _Lydia,_ she scolds herself, _it’s not real. It’s just a reaction to the pansy. Don’t let your feelings distract you from…_ Cora brushes her hair behind her ear absently. Her hair really does suit her, practical and streamlined, no-nonsense, just like her.

“Lydia,” Cora says, and even in such an annoyed tone it makes Lydia weak to hear her name on her love’s lips. “Please stop staring at me, it’s distracting. Take a book, you love books.”

“Aye, not as much as thou art dear to me,” she intones.

“UHHHHH why are you speaking in iambic pentameter?”

She isn’t sure, but she can’t quite stop herself. “Do I displease thee, love above all loves?”

“Derek, Stiles, get in here!” They emerge from Derek’s bedroom where they’d holed themselves up to avoid the unrelenting stares of Scott and Isaac. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What now?”

“Lydia, what were you saying?”

She is more than happy to oblige. “Thou askest me an encore of thy praise?  
I know not how or whence my speech doth come,  
and yet it stokes my tongue to liberty.  
I love thee as the flowers love the rain,  
I love thee as I shall not love again—"

“That’s enough, thank you Lydia.”

“Ask it of me and it is yours, my Queen.”

Stiles and Derek share a look. “Okay yeah that’s bad.”

Acknowledging Lydia seems to have set off a chain reaction among the lovers, as the room fills with Elizabethan speech at ever increasing volumes. Cora starts flipping even more frantically through the book, while Stiles and Derek try to keep the peace with decreasing efficacy.

Cora jumps up. “I found it!” Derek roars to get the room’s attention. “Thank fucking Christ, okay, here we go: ‘Midsummer Liquor--  
_If love-in-idleness hath taken root_  
_and rent asunder that Venus doth bless,_  
_secure the crackling fruit of the pistace_  
_and draw from thence its unbeguiling oil._  
_When thus the victim’s eye this salve receives,_  
_it shall anew take pleasure in the truth._  
_Nor thought nor action taken shall it seem_  
_have any substance save befits a dream._ ’”

“Okayyyy…”

“And so,” Scott beams “all that we need is eas’ly found!  
Boyd, Lydia, and Isaac shall depart  
with me to find us pistachio oil.  
Perchance this distance will decay delay.  
Cora, Derek, and Stiles, meanwhile assure  
that none but we escape this cozy gaol.”

Lydia turns to Cora. “My love, I do not wish to part with thee  
but part I must, yet shall return anon  
Farewell my—“

“Yeah, yeah, bye Lydia, I’ll see you in a bit.”

~~~

With their objects of affection out of the way, tensions in the apartment have eased considerably, but it’s still clear that the love juice is taking a toll on them. If Scott and the others don’t return soon, things could get violent. The scale of this nightmare slowly dawns on Cora. Even if they find the antidote, and if they manage to get Greenberg to stop drugging people, they still have no idea how many people he sprayed and when, and if the effects are just as strong for them.

Two hours later, Scott calls and says they can’t find pistachio oil anywhere, and that all the stores are closed. Deaton doesn’t return until tomorrow morning, so they’re camping out at Scott’s house to ride out the spell until they can track some down. Fantastic. Sleep does not come easily for the pack, and by the early morning everyone is at their wits’ end, but subsequently determined to kick this spell’s ass. They’re halfway through planning how they’re going to track down Greenberg when Scott checks in again.  
“So have I some news good and some news bad.  
Our ledger’s credit holds the great pistace,  
which Deaton did by grace indeed possess.  
However, in its debit lies a cure,  
for even having placed it in the eye  
I still am speaking thus and lovesick lie.”

Stiles groans, “it’s too early in the morning for this.”

“Pout not, my heart. Get to the school post-haste.  
While Derek, thou, and Cora stalk our prey,  
thy valiant knight shall I be as I trek  
through forest dense with the remaining pack  
to seek the magic tree again anon,  
so fly, my betas, to the Nemeton!” He hangs up.

“I’m so ready for this to be over,” Derek grumbles. Cora doesn’t think she’s ever agreed with her brother more.

If they were thinking clearly—which they weren’t—they would have searched for him last night. The chances of him being at school are slim, but they passed his house on the way and he wasn’t there, and short of sweeping the entire town the school is the best bet. By some miracle, they find him in an unused classroom and chase him down the hall. Chaos erupts: Derek tackles him but he sprays Stiles when he tries to take the flower from Greenberg. Stiles rushes to the water fountain to try and avoid his fate while Greenberg sprays Derek as well, giving him enough time to stand and run away but not enough finesse to keep hold on the flower, which Derek contains in his shirt, which apparently needed to come off. As she’s chasing Greenberg down the hall, she looks back to see Stiles and her brother lock eyes. Well that’ll be interesting.

She corners Greenberg in a dead-end, and with no flower to protect him she drags him by the wrist out onto the field. “Where are you taking me?”

“You and I are gonna have a conversation, and I don’t think it’s the type that needs to be had with witnesses.”

“Oh god, I’m gonna die.”

“Oh trust me, I want to kill you. SO badly. Do you know how annoying it is to have everyone rhyme?” The absolute terror on his face satisfies her somewhat. “Sit down.” The two of them sit in the dewy grass across from each other. “Allison said you’re immune.” Greenberg doesn’t look at her, but his silence answers her question. She softens slightly. “Look, I think I know the answer, and I normally wouldn’t ask this, but it’s important. Why are you immune?”

Greenberg is openly crying by this point. “I thought it would fix me. I thought that if I made a love potion and used it on myself I’d be okay, and when I actually made it I got carried away and, well,”

“It didn’t work though, did it? Because there was nothing to build off of.”

He nods. “Because I’m broken.”

Part of her wishes she had been wrong, because it hurts to hear her own insecurities mirrored so starkly. She sighs. “Greenberg, you’re not broken, you’re just aromantic. And a mad scientist, but, the point is, there’s nothing to fix.”

He lets out a weak laugh. “You mean aside from the horny teenagers I’ve loosed?”

Cora grins conspiratorially. “Okay, so this has been a huge pain in my ass and I’m extremely mad at you right now, but I’ve gotta say, in ten years this’ll be hilarious. I’m gonna have so much blackmail on so many people.”

Greenberg seems to have stopped crying. “Why are you comforting me?”

Cora inhales slowly and debates whether this is a good idea, but she has to start somewhere. “Because I’m aromantic too.”

“Oh.” He looks at her like she holds all the answers, which is laughable because she hasn’t known for very long either. “Thank you.”

“I’d say no problem, but it’s still a pretty big problem.”

“Right, so I never did figure out the antidote.”

“We’ve almost got it, we’re just waiting for—“

Out of nowhere a thunderstorm appears above them. Raindrops fall much more slowly than would be expected, and they don’t look like water. They look more like cooking oil.

“That, apparently. C’mon, let’s go inside.” It turns out it’s not dry in there either because the sprinklers have gone off mysteriously. “What the fuck did they do?!”

~~~

Sometimes Allison wonders how different their lives would be if Kate hadn’t set fire to the Hale house. If Peter hadn’t escaped and taken Derek, Laura, and Cora out of school to go into hiding. If on the way out from the burning building he didn’t bite Scott in his rage, if Stiles and Scott weren’t out there to witness Kate set the fire. If Peter didn’t try to rebuild the pack and recruit Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, if Jackson’s bite had taken in the usual manner. If Kate had still been alive when Allison moved to Beacon Hills, if her family hadn’t formed her into a hunter before she met Scott, if he hadn’t proven wrong all her family’s theories about werewolves. If she hadn’t turned on Gerard when he sent a rogue omega after Lydia and pinned it on Laura. If Gerard hadn’t murdered Derek’s sister, if Peter and Gerard hadn’t assured each other’s destruction. If Derek had taken on the mantle of Alpha instead of Scott.

She’s fairly certain none of those realities involve a middle-aged woman in eccentric-art-teacher boho chic waiting for them at the Nemeton with a warm, knowing smile and a pansy in her hand.

“I apologize for the delay,” the woman declaims, seemingly unperturbed by the collection of snarling werewolves and an arrow notched in Allison’s bow. “It appears my recipes have traveled farther than is their design.”

“What sorceress art thou who standeth here?” Scott demands.

“You may call me Ms. Tebbit.”

“What business foul compels thee to this place?”

She smiles. “ _I have a device to make all well._ ”

Lydia glares at her. “ _More matter with less art,_ an I quote true.”

Ms. Tebbit continues smiling. “A different play, but your point is well taken. When I realized that this spell had been deployed here, I hastened to get to you, because rarely are people who cast it equipped to break it.”

“We have obtainèd pistachio oil,” Erica offers. “And yet do we still fucking speak in verse.”

Ms. Tebbit registers Erica’s comment with amusement before plucking another pansy. “You must combine it with the offending flower. Love-in-idleness of some magic imbued, as you properly surmised.”

“By what authority are you credential’d?” Boyd asks. A very smart question for him to ask; Allison admires his quiet wisdom. Despite herself she zones out for a second gazing at him.

Ms. Tebbit seems to have unending patience. “I mean you no harm. I offer my help because I have seen this spell in action many times before and know the trouble it can bring when left unchecked. I also know how to make the process of restoring everyone go much quicker.”

It might be foolish, but for some reason Allison trusts her. Besides, it’s not like they have any other options. “My estimation is that she speak true.”

“I so concur,” Scott adds. “Do not make fools of us.”

Ms. Tebbit nods. Scott approaches and hands her the oil, into which she drops the flowers. As she begins to sing, clouds form over them.

…

Allison jerks herself to attention as the mystical rain dissipates. She takes one look at Scott and knows everything worked out just fine.

~~~

As Stiles and Derek put their clothes back on, they’re tempted to believe what their brains are telling them, that this was all a dream. But here they are, naked, in a literal closet, and no other explanation would make any more sense.

Derek and Stiles are friends. Not best friends, but friends. And Stiles has always been okay with that, but he’s having a hard time believing the spell is really broken, because Stiles can’t stop thinking about the boy next to him. And not just their stint in this room; he thinks about too close conversations and borderline-flirty banter and oh holy shit has he had a thing for Derek this entire time?

Derek seems equally freaked. He’s always pretty quiet, but this is an even more profound silence than usual. The absolute last thing Stiles wants to do is talk about it, and he’d bet anything Derek is of the same opinion. But this might be his only opportunity.

Derek stops him before he can even finish inhaling. “Stiles, don’t.”

“Derek, we have to talk about this.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re friends, because my first time was with a guy, because you look like you’re about to cry which I’ve literally never seen since the fire… take your pick.”

The sounds come choppily out of his throat. “There’s nothing to talk about. We got hit with a love potion, the pack figured out how to fix it, end of story. It doesn’t have to be a thing.”

Stiles nods a little too vigorously, not looking at him. “It doesn’t have to not be a thing either.”

Derek stills completely. The fear in his voice is bracing. “What are you trying to say?”

“Well, I mean maybe… it’s possible that in my case the flower didn’t magically make me attracted to guys for a few hours; maybe it just, I don’t know, showed me a different side of myself. I think—” And while it’s probably best not to say anything, he has to take this chance. He has to know. “I think I might actually love you for real.”

“Well I don’t.” Derek is staring at him with the jaw clench he usually reserves for the big bads. It’s not necessarily a look of hatred, but it definitely feels like if he could stand being within five feet of the boy, Derek would be punching him in the face right now. “I’m not gay, Stiles. Or bi, or whatever. I’m sorry, but I’m straight. I need you to respect my space and leave it at that.”

”Right, no, I’m sorry, I just… yeah. Sorry.” He starts to leave, probably emitting an unsavory cocktail of chemosignals because Derek clears his throat and chokes out something through bated breath.

“Wait.” Stiles turns and sees Derek roll his eyes, very obviously uncomfortable with the situation but letting his fondness for Stiles win out. “I’m not… I’m not mad at you. And I don’t care that you’re bi—”

“How gracious,” Stiles mutters.

”Damn it, Stiles,” Derek sighs. “This isn’t easy for me. And I get that this isn’t easy for you either, I’m sorry, but I need time. It’s not just the fact that I… did that with a guy.” Derek looks like he’s debating whether or not to continue on, but he finds the courage to say what’s really bothering him. “Someone turned my body against me. Again.”

“Shit, Kate.” Of course. “I didn’t even—“

“I know. And it’s not your fault; it’s Greenberg’s. But I… I can’t be around you right now.”

“Dude, I get it. You don’t have to worry about me.” Stiles forces out a tight-lipped smile and turns to leave. “For what it’s worth, I wish you didn’t have to go through this.”

“Same to you,” is what Derek settles on murmuring. Stiles tries to ignore how it makes him feel like he’s lost something forever. After all, ignoring things is what he does best.

~~~

Three months later, everything is more or less back to normal. Erica and Boyd, Scott and Allison, Jackson and Lydia: all of them are going strong. Greenberg transferred schools but he and Cora still talk every now and then. Derek’s not supposed to know about it but he understands why Cora keeps him in her life. It’s hard for her to find people like her.

Derek has been doing a _lot_ of reading, none of it for school. He’s read books about sexuality, he’s read articles about transgender people, he’s read forums about asexuality and aromanticism, he’s read pamphlets about intersex traits; he’s read more about PTSD and sexual assault and trauma recovery and even some stuff about how it pertains to LGBT+ issues. He started going to the school’s QSA meetings; he went back to therapy. And while it’s a lot of information to process, the one thing he knows with more and more certainty is that he needs to make amends with Isaac.

Isaac agrees to meet him after school. He kisses Danny at the school doors before parting ways with him to walk toward Derek with a guarded expression. “Derek.”

“Hey Isaac.”

“What do you want?”

“I was hoping you’d consider moving back in with us.” Isaac nods his head like this was more or less what he was expecting. “And, I wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

“I’m not taking anything back.” Isaac crosses his arms defiantly, head still bowed but voice firm. “I wasn’t myself when I said it, but I stand by everything I said.”

“I know. You’re right, I’ve been a dick about all of this. I should have been more understanding.”

“Damn right you should’ve.”

“But I would never kick you out. It’s… it’s too quiet without you.”

“Don’t.”

“Isaac, please. Just come home. I get it now, or as much as I can. I remember what it was like, and I’ve been learning a lot. I… You don’t have to worry about me anymore. You’ll always have a place with me and Cora.”

Isaac looks like he wants to believe him, but doesn’t quite. “How can I trust you won’t freak out on me again?”

That’s a great question—for someone who isn’t Derek. Derek wishes he knew how to trust people again, but he doesn’t, especially when his wounds keep tearing themselves open every year or so. Trust is not his expertise. “I don’t know that you can,” he says eventually. “And I understand that. I need to earn that trust back, if you’ll let me. I just wanted to say, I’m sorry, and it’s just as much your home as ours. You’re… family to me.”

Isaac suppresses a smile by rubbing a hand over his face. “I’ll think about it. Although I gotta say, Stiles is a much better cook.”

Stiles. He hasn’t spoken to him since it happened. Usually getting rid of Stiles is like pulling weeds but when he says he’ll give you space he _gives you space_. While his memories of that day still sting somewhat, he does miss having him around. Maybe he should fix that. “Is he still here?”

“No, he and Brett left already, they’re going on a double date with Allison and Scott.” Right, he’d heard along the way that Stiles had a new boyfriend, a transfer from another school. He’s seen the guy at meetings a couple times. Isaac eyes him carefully. “Do you need to talk to him?”

“No,” he replies, “just… tell him I said hi.”

Isaac does actually smile this time. “Will do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warnings:  
> Isaac leaves/is essentially kicked out of Derek and Cora's apartment: Chapter 1, section 2; passing references throughout.  
> Discussion of Isaac's father: Chapter 1, sections 2-3  
> Suicide attempt: Chapter 2, section 1; aftermath discussed section 3  
> Kate Argent mentions/sexual assault-related PTSD: Chapter 1, section 3; Chapter 3, section 4; brief mention Chapter 3, sections 3 and 5


End file.
